October 9, 2022 Russia-Ukraine News

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been pushed into a corner by setbacks in his war effort, but there are no imminent signs he would resort to using nuclear weapons, US Sen. Chris Murphy said in an interview Sunday morning.

Putin's war effort is faltering, Murphy, a Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union.”

"Vladimir Putin is increasingly getting pushed into a corner. This war is going incredibly badly for him, the mobilization that he has undertaken has backfired," Murphy said. "This morning, you see scenes of hundreds of Russian troops essentially refusing to go into training."

Tapper asked Murphy about US President Joe Biden's recent warnings on the danger of nuclear escalation with Putin, in which he invoked "Armageddon."

Murphy said Biden's assessment was realistic, "for the fact that you were dealing with an incredibly dangerous human being in Russia. The war is going badly, and you just can't predict what he's going to do next."

More than 200 rescuers are on scene at the site where a round of missile strikes killed at least 12 people and injured scores in the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, authorities said Sunday.

“As of 15:00 [3:00 p.m. local time], emergency rescue operations at the sites of missile strikes in Zaporizhzhia continue. In total 215 people and 58 vehicles are involved (including 85 people and 20 vehicles from the State Emergency Service), as well as 8 teams (8 search dogs) of the dog unit 'Antares' from Pavlohrad town,” Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said in a tweet.

Yesterday evening: The southern city was hit by six Russian cruise missiles and 16 S-300 anti-aircraft missiles, according to Ukraine’s air force. The cruise missiles were fired from Russian Tu-22M3 and Su-35 fighter jets inside Russian-held areas of the Zaporizhzhia region.

CCTV video appears to show the moment a large explosion heavily damaged the Kerch bridge that links Russia's mainland with annexed Crimea, in a devastating blow to Vladimir Putin's war effort in Ukraine.

"A truck is seen driving in the lane towards Crimea when all of a sudden there's a massive explosion, though it's not clear whether it is the truck that actually blew up," CNN's Fred Pleitgen reports.

Russian leaders said the blast, which killed three people, was caused by a truck exploding on the road bridge. Ukrainian officials have publicly celebrated the explosion, without directly claiming responsibility.

Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu said Saturday's explosion on Kerch Bridge is a "win" for Ukraine "whatever the reason behind the blast," a foreign ministry press officer told CNN Sunday. 

The blast left the road and rail bridge linking annexed Crimea to mainland Russia severely damaged, which Ukraine has celebrated but not claimed responsibility for.

"Whatever the reason behind the blast, it’s a win for the Ukrainian Armed Forces nonetheless."

Another train has passed over the Kerch Bridge, traveling from Sevastopol to St. Petersburg, following the blast that severely damaged parts of the road and rail bridge between annexed Crimea and the Russian mainland, Russian state media TASS reported on Sunday.

The first passenger services resumed travel across the bridge on Saturday, traveling from the Crimean peninsula to Krasnodar Krai in southern Russia, Russia’s Ministry of Transport said in a statement.

Some road traffic has also resumed, according to the Russian-appointed deputy leader of Ukraine’s occupied Kherson region, Kirill Stremousov, who said on Sunday that "there is no threat of interruptions in food supplies to the Kherson region due to the rapid resumption of traffic on the Crimean bridge."

However, heavy trucks, vans and buses are traveling on ferry boats.

About 100 vans and trucks and about 650 passengers have been ferried across the Kerch Strait since the blast, TASS reported on Sunday, citing Crimean authorities. Ferries for both light vehicles and heavy trucks have already made several journeys overnight and on Sunday.

TASS also reported that a line of about 200 cars has formed in Krasnodar, Russia, from where the ferry to Crimea departs. Passenger buses are also departing via ferry and are able to bypass the lines.

Repair works: On Saturday, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin said repair works on the bridge would be carried out around the clock. He added that a damage survey will be completed within a day and Russian divers will check all the supports of the bridge on Sunday morning.

At least 87 civilians, including 10 children, were injured by a round of missile strikes on the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, Oleksandr Starukh, head of Zaporizhzhia regional military administration, said Sunday.

Officials had earlier said that 49 people were injured in the strikes.

The southern city was hit by six Russian cruise missiles and 16 S-300 anti-aircraft missiles, according to Ukraine’s air force. The cruise missiles were fired from Russian Tu-22M3 and Su-35 fighter jets inside Russian-held areas of the Zaporizhzhia region.

Ukrainian troops are preparing for further advances into Russian-held Luhansk, according to Serhiy Hayday, head of the Luhansk region's Ukrainian military administration.

Hayday acknowledged photographs of Ukrainian troops outside the Luhansk village of Stelmakhivka, less than 20 kilometers (12 miles) northwest of the crucial post of Svatove.

New Ukrainian incursions into Luhansk have been made possible by the rapid-fire reclamation of territory in the past weeks, particularly the re-taking of Lyman in the Donetsk region.

All of Luhansk region is claimed as Russian territory by the Kremlin, following its forcible annexation. But in recent days Ukrainian forces have been approaching the region from several directions, building on their successful offenses in Kharkiv and Donetsk. 

A round of missile strikes on the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia killed 12 and left 49 injured Saturday evening, according to Kyrylo Tymoshenko, Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine.

Zaporizhzhia official Anatoliy Kurtev had earlier said 17 were killed with 40 injured.

What happened? The southern city was hit by six Russian cruise missiles and 16 S-300 anti-aircraft missiles, according to Ukraine’s air force.

The cruise missiles were fired from Russian Tu-22M3 and Su-35 fighter jets inside Russian-held areas of Zaporizhzhia region.

Russia has repurposed S-300 anti-aircraft missiles to hit ground targets, hitting civilian infrastructure and residential neighborhoods in Zaporizhzhia.

Meanwhile on Sunday, Ukraine’s southern command claimed to have shot down a Russian jet fighter in the Mykolaiv region as well as an Iranian-made drone close to Odesa.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree strengthening the defenses of the only bridge connecting annexed Crimea to the Russian mainland after a huge blast early Saturday severely damaged its structure.

Here's what led up to this:

The blast: A huge explosion severely damaged the only bridge connecting annexed Crimea to the Russian mainland, causing parts of Europe’s longest bridge to collapse. At least three people were were killed, according to Russian officials.

Ukrainian leaders celebrate: While stopping short of claiming responsibility, high-ranking Ukrainian officials publicly celebrated the bridge explosion. Ukraine's secretary of the National Security and Defense Council posted a taunting birthday message for Putin and the postal service announced stamps commemorating the blast. In Kyiv, residents posed for selfies in front of a billboard depicting the burning bridge.

The damage: Maxar satellite images captured the damage to the Kerch Strait bridge Saturday, shortly after an explosion rocked the only direct road and rail connection between annexed Crimea and mainland Russia.

The blast caused parts of the bridge to collapse, though Russian transportation officials restarted rail service and allowed vehicles to use some undamaged portions of the roadway by Saturday evening.

Some travel across the bridge restored: Russian officials rushed to investigate the explosion and restore partial service on the bridge's parallel rail and roadway structures. By evening, limited car traffic resumed on undamaged parts of the bridge and train service had restarted. The blast disrupted major transport links, however, and Russian officials planned to use ferries for trucks.

Repair work to begin: On Saturday, Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin said the lights on the Crimea bridge were set to be restored in the next few hours so that repair works could be carried out around the clock.

Khusnullin added that divers would start work on Sunday to check all the supports of the bridge. Once all results are received, a decision will be made to open traffic on the bridge for buses and heavy vehicles.